(Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute & DAMTP, University of Cambridge)

Title: An introduction to Approximate Bayesian Computation.

Abstract:
Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) has become a standard part of the statistician's toolbox. In this talk I will outline what ABC is about, how it arose, and what it can (and cannot) do. I will illustrate the approach with an example from cancer biology. No previous knowledge of cancer biology is needed to understand the talk.

Biography：
Since February 2013 Professor Simon Tavaré has been Director of the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute (CRUK CI), a Senior Group Leader there since 2006 and Professor of Cancer Research (Bioinformatics) in the Department of Oncology since 2003.

Their research in the CRUK CI focusses on cancer genomics, primarily the statistical analysis of sequencing technologies to study e.g. gDNA, expression, methylation and transcription factor binding. They have a particular emphasis on analysis of data from Illumina platforms. They collaborate on two CRUK-funded International Cancer Genome Consortium projects, in prostate cancer and oesophageal adenocarcinoma, and they have ongoing projects in glioblastoma. A second emphasis is the development of statistical and stochastic methods arising in evolutionary approaches to cancer.